Background for 2004 State of the Teaching Profession in Ontario Survey

September 07 2004

About the Survey

• This is the second annual survey of members conducted by the College in its eight-year history and the first time the College has surveyed members of the public
• Professionally Speaking/Pour parler profession commissioned public opinion and customer research firm COMPAS Inc. to conduct the survey
• The survey cost less than 20 cents a member.

Methodology

• The telephone surveys were conducted in July 2004 and reflects the opinions of 1,000 College members chosen at random and 500 members of the public
• Samples of 1,000 are deemed accurate to within 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20 while samples of 500 are deemed accurate to within 4.4 percentage points 19 times out of 20.

The Respondents

• The teachers who responded to the 2004 survey are representative of the 193,000 members from all four of Ontario's publicly-funded education systems
• 60 per cent were from elementary schools
• 33 per cent were from secondary schools
• 2 per cent worked in both elementary and secondary schools
• 1 per cent worked in a school board office
• 1 per cent worked in a postsecondary institution
• 1 per cent were retired
• 1 per cent refused to answer and 1 per cent reported other when asked where they worked.

Why is the College doing this?

• To accurately gauge the opinion of College members and members of the public on education issues.
• To bring issues to the attention of the entire membership, the provincial government, other education stakeholders and the public
• To stimulate further discussion within the education system
• To encourage and explore common approaches among education’s stakeholders that address concerns and strengthen the teaching profession.